Tiger wrote:Not much to say about defence. Same gang but Tanev and Corado should both be a bit improved by age. Garrison played well last year and will probably be used more effectively this year on PP and as an offensive Dman..

Yeah with Garrison getting comfortable with his new team, he's already playing better, plus we are seeing his deadly bombs with more accuracy now.

Hoping Torts can find a way to create 3 solid pairings with left - right side dmen, with Garrison and Edler on our #1 powerplay line, it should be a much more efficient special team.

Be interesting to see how Torts plays our #1 and #2 powerplay lines. AV seemed to rarely have Burrows out there with the Sedins - full time anyways, putting Kesler out there instead with the Sedins.

Tiger wrote:With the Sedins and Burrows line being another year older and no big improvements to the other lines I doubt we will improve a lot in the goals for department.

My take ? We will need 100% effort from all players and a little luck to win the division but should make the playoffs with the new playoff format.. The team as it stands now is the weakest we have put on ice since 2008/09

imo if we are to be a contending team all season and more importantly during the post season, the success will have to rely on the coattails of Kesler being healthy for a full season, as we all know we can count on the Sedin's to be that under the radar bonafide #1 line silently putting up top 20 in the league points while playing against the other teams top defensive players and/or #1 lines.

It's just after Kesler went through all those injuries and surgeries after his career year he's obviously never been the same and as a result, all the other opposing teams had to do was stifle the Sedin line and that basically shut this team down as we couldn't score worth shit. And even when RK did come back he wasn't up to his speedy, sniper, shotgun shooting self again.

But he says he's feeling better than ever so hopefully he can shake off the RUST and shitty play of the past coupla years and regain his Selke trophy like play asap!

The thing is Blobby, I ain't making this shit up. Zack simply could care less about getting in premier shape heading into training camp, especially with a new coach, says a lot about his character don't it. But hey, shoot me, cause apparently I made this shit up, as well as B Mack and Tony G, they made that shit up as well. lets face it, Zack needs babysitting outside the arena, and history has shown that players who can't seem to motivate themselves outside the arena, don't usually have long and illustrious careers. Do you think Zack is spending hours upon hours in his basement working on his shot like Kesler? LOL...him and Pinizzotto are too busy making like Shane O'Brien at the Wild Duck Inn, slaying ho's and blow.'Torts on Zack - http://www.theprovince.com/sports/hocke ... story.html

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

“I think his conditioning is OK. This (the suspension) gives us a chance to really nail him as far as conditioning. That’s one plus. And he will get nailed.”

This comes after Kassian had said at the start of training camp that he felt stronger and fitter than last season.

Of course, Tortorella demands his players be top-end fit and they need to be to play his high-octane system.

Asked about the coach’s comments on Wednesday morning, while making an appearance for the Vancouver Sun’s Raise-A-Reader campaign, Kassian said: “That doesn’t surprise me at all. When a player gets suspended, the coach doesn’t want you at home eating a bag of chips for three weeks. He wants you to get to work and come back even stronger.

You've been hanging at the beauty salon with Toni and Joany waaaay too long Bikerdude...

It's just after Kesler went through all those injuries and surgeries after his career year he's obviously never been the same and as a result, all the other opposing teams had to do was stifle the Sedin line and that basically shut this team down as we couldn't score worth shit. And even when RK did come back he wasn't up to his speedy, sniper, shotgun shooting self again.

But he says he's feeling better than ever so hopefully he can shake off the RUST and shitty play of the past coupla years and regain his Selke trophy like play asap!

Agree completely but unfortunately Kesler has Higgins and Hansen on his wings.. not Torres and Samuelsson. With Booth coming back it maybe a better line than it is now but it will take time before Booth is in game shape.. If Kassian comes back in great shape and is given a spot with the Sedin's and if Burrows plays with Kesler and if Booth finds his game and if the line of Kesler ,Burrows and Booth have the "chemistry".. we got a contender But thats a lof of ifs ..

That said, we aren't the fastest squad in the league and I can see us getting burned bigtime by good teams on the transition when we lose those battles in deep.

Weber, Alberts and Lack... pretty bad.

Shinkaruk, Horvat and Gaunce... pretty promising.

I am pretty disappointed with Horvat's skill level though. He looks like he'll be a very good player down low protecting the puck, but I expected to see more offensively, even at 18 and in his first camp.

Burrows looks like shit, hopefully it's just a preseason thing. The Sedins are not 90-point players anymore but they should crack a PPG.

Luongo looking great last night. Nice to see.

We should sign a vet backup to split the 15 games Lack looks pencilled in for. Those are going to be very important points for us this year.

Kesler... who knows. He looks physically stronger than last year and he's such a dynamic skater, but his timing and decision-making really aren't there right now and they haven't been for a while.

Anyway, too busy to post much right now but I'm really looking forward to this season. Torts at the helm should be good for a laugh if nothing else.

Cowards die a thousand times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

Horvat and Shinkaruk have made the team out of training camp and will be given their nine regular season games to see if they can impress enough to stick around for the entire season. (according to John Shannon)